he's urging faith leaders and even civil rights leaders in the african-american community to mobilize their churches to help kids, parents, and teachers find solutions to the problems in education. he says, kids must come first. >> we just have a crisis in our country. in our public education system is not doing well by our children, it's going to take an entire community to say enough is enough. >> johnson wants to level the playing field for all children who operate from a disadvantage, something he's too familiar with. >> and i grow up in a poor neighborhood and the only way to make it out of the community is basketball and got a scholarship to uc berkley. >> and he knows competing and winning, as a nba player with the phoenix suns enjoyed 12 years as one of the top players of the game. during his nba career, jonathan launched st. hope, a nonprofit community development organization to revitalize earn city communities in his hometown of sacramento. >> i didn't have any of my friends with me on college. they were on drugs, you know, in jail or dead. and i remember thinking, you know